When I was little, I LOVED getting mail. Heck, I still love getting mail, and I’m totally not a kid now.
My grandmother lived in a different state and wrote me letters quite regularly. She lived on a fixed income, but would often enclose a dollar bill (and a $15 cheque on birthdays)!
She had fancy handwriting, and liked to draw little doodles or use different colors of ink to enhance the hearts, swirls, and Asian lapdogs she created.
I saved all of the letters from Grandmother; I probably saved every letter I ever got from a friend or relative.
My 4-year-old, Deeds, looks forward to the mail arriving each day. Usually there IS something exciting, and usually it is addressed to me.
This means that Deeds has almost daily bouts of self-pity, sighing things like, “I NEVER get any mail.”
I DID get him a magazine subscription; but actually, he is right.
I let him open my mail.
I bought him a toy mail box so that he can pretend mail whenever he feels the need.
But I wonder if getting letters in the mail is becoming an antiquated memory, like when our grandparents talk about walking to the corner store to buy a soda for 5 cents.
When I reflect on it, I think I agree with Deeds, that he is being deprived of a fun and special experience.
Do your children get real letters from anyone?
Do your children also think getting mail is special?
What are your childhood memories about mail?
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Oh Candice! I understand completely! I miss getting letters!
In fact, I’ve started buying most of my stuff online just so that I can get excited about potential packages. It’s way more fun to receive those bills if I have a book or some clothes for myself and the kids waiting for us when we get home!
I used to have some great pen pals when I was a kid and also as a teenager. One friend moved to Hong Kong, and the other to Washington, and we used to write great letters all the time. I used to decorate the envelopes with stickers or draw pictures.
My kids, however, are not so interested in geting mail.
I totally feel Elle on getting packages. It’s so much more fun ordering online and receiving semi-surprises in the mail! Aside from things that we order, we also get quite a few review items for Jayden and he always thinks every delivery is a present for him. He even thanks UPS and FedEx before I can, lol! Opening the packages no matter what’s inside is so exciting to him!
I never got many letters growing up. I did have a collection of birthday cards from family that got misplaced when I went to college
. Hopefully, they’re in my mom’s house somewhere.
I also loved getting mail when I was little I even had a pen pal. When my son was 3 he loved opening my junk mail so much, I made him a cardboard mail box and attached it to his bedroom door. Every day I would put something in it for him. It woul dbe anything from a little note from me or maybe a sticker or a tiny toy he had lost and I found for him. He absolutley loved it. I feel you are right, children are losing their chance to stay in touch with each other in that personal way. Emails are nto the same they include emoticons and abbreviations. With a letter you have to write and express your feeling through those words in a way that lets the reader know exactly where you are coming from. I think I’m going to dust off that cardboard mail box and write a letter to my son.